Pioneers defend championship on match of cards

Tuesday

Nov 6, 2012 at 6:00 AM

St. John’s High golf coach Bill Prendiville isn’t sure if this is his best team ever, but it’s certainly his deepest, and that depth enabled the Pioneers to repeat as Division 1 state champions yesterday. The top four St. John’s golfers totaled 315 strokes at Norton Country Club, the same number as BC High, so a tiebreaker was used to determine the title.

By Bill Doyle TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

St. John’s High golf coach Bill Prendiville isn’t sure if this is his best team ever, but it’s certainly his deepest, and that depth enabled the Pioneers to repeat as Division 1 state champions yesterday.

The top four St. John’s golfers totaled 315 strokes at Norton Country Club, the same number as BC High, so a tiebreaker was used to determine the title. The fifth-best St. John’s score was an 82, one stroke lower than BC High’s, giving the Pioneers their fifth state golf championship in the last eight years and seventh overall.

“We can go eight guys deep and be competitive,” Prendiville said. “We went to the fifth score today, so that attests to that. Most schools here have one, two, three, sometimes four good players, but depth was really our strong suit all year long.”

Another example of the Pioneers’ depth was that Eddy Black shot the team’s lowest round of the day, a 5-over 76. In the Central Mass. Division 1 championships at Gardner Municipal GC, Black carded only the sixth-best score for St. John’s, an 11-over 82.

St. John’s repeated as state champion even though it lost Tom Henderson, the 2011 Central Mass. Division 1 medalist, who transferred to a high school in Florida this year.

“We still thought we had some talent,” Prendiville said, “but we knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”

Plante and Lynch grew up on golf courses.

Plante’s father, Bill, owns Heritage CC in Charlton, and Lynch’s father, Brian, was the longtime general manager at The International GC in Bolton before taking over same position at Mount Pleasant CC in Boylston this year.

Bill Plante was on hand rooting for St. John’s, and Lynch called his father on his cell phone after St. John’s won.

Plante parred his final three holes and closed his round by chipping to within a foot from 50 yards and tapping in for a crucial par on No. 9.

Nick Rodriguez shot a 6-over 77 to lead Shrewsbury High to a tie for sixth with Westford Academy at 335. Rodriguez carded a 3-under 68 to earn medalist honors in the Central Mass. Division 1 Tournament and help the Colonials defeat St. John’s by six shots for the team district title. Prendiville wasn’t too disappointed finishing second to Shrewsbury.

“It wasn’t that we played badly,” Prendiville said. “We had five guys in the 70s. We just didn’t have anybody real low. We thought we’d certainly be within the top three in the state.”